Stealing Time
by Mrs. Roonil Wazlib
Summary: It's a perfect afternoon at the Burrow, the summer before Harry's fifth year at Hogwarts... until two strangely familiar children show up, throwing his and Ginny's lives out of orbit. But are they really who they claim to be, or is it all a facade?


A/N: Hey guys! This story was written for the March 2008 Twin Travel Challenge at SIYE. Enjoy!

"Harry James Potter! Honestly, will you please just shut up and listen to me for one bloody moment?"

"Hermione, what you're suggesting is crazy! What happened to the implications of time travel? You must not be seen, remember? We'll be in plain sight. And… since when do you swear?"

"I swear when I'm trying to make a point, Harry. And the implications don't matter. Not now. Not when we can have any sort of advantage against Voldemort in the war."

"But that's not your only reason."

"No, it's not."

"Would you like to explain why it's oh-so-important to the war to have me spend more time with Ginny, then?"

"It's not for the war, Harry! It's because Ginny loves you! And I know that you love her. Just tell me, if there could be a chance, any chance at all, that you could have more time with Ginny… wouldn't you take it?"

"_I just wish I asked you out sooner. __We could've had ages__... months... __years maybe__."_ Harry's own words to Ginny at Dumbledore's funeral came back to him, making up his mind, and his heart, for him.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked Hermione.

She grinned in triumph, and gestured for Harry to take a seat. "Well, here's the plan…"

"So then, Fred had to stay up for half of the night, drinking a near-constant supply of Blood-Replenishing Potion, and clutching a towel to his nose!" George exclaimed, sitting back in his seat in the Weasley kitchen and grinning widely.

"Which wasn't entirely effective," stated Fred, before patting his youngest brother on the shoulder. "Don't go flipping over your mattress, Ronniekins."

Ron looked disgustedly at his family members as they all laughed uproariously. "You all sicken me," he said darkly.

Hermione scowled at the twins and looked sympathetically at Ron, which seemed to please him immensely. "Honestly, you two need to grow up and become more responsible. Imagine what could have happened if your mum hadn't stocked up on Blood-Replenishing Potion. You could have died! Not to mention how utterly irresponsible it was to _bleed_ all over Ron's bed and not even clean up after yourselves! I just can't believe you two some-"

"Kindly shut it, my friend."

"Or Mum will hear."

"Then Fred will be dead."

"And George might… lose an ear."

George looked at Fred strangely, raising an eyebrow. "Lose an ear?"

"Nothing else rhymed!" Fred complained.

Ron groaned, rolling his eyes towards Harry and Hermione. "Great!" he said sarcastically. "Now they're talking in quatrains!"

Seven mouths suddenly dropped open and gaped at Ron. "You… how… how do you know the name of a very specific type of poetry, Ron?" Hermione asked, the corners of her mouth twitching upwards.

Ron blushed scarlet, opening his mouth to surely let out a great explanation of just why he knew so much about quatrains, but he was cut off by a loud popping sound and even louder voices.

"Lily! Auntie Hermione _told_ you not to touch it!"

"Well… you were the one who turned the little hourglass thing, _James_."

"Only after you decided to play dress-up and pretend that it was a necklace!"

"That's not fair; I just thought that it looked pretty."

"So how can it be my fault?"

"It just is your fault, James!"

"Prove it!"

"I'm telling Daddy, Daddy always listens to me and not you!"

"Well then I'm telling Mummy."

"That's not fair, James!"

Harry's eyes widened considerably upon hearing his parents' names. Could it be? Could these children somehow be his parents, travelling to the future? But that couldn't be possible… he was fairly certain that his parents were never siblings. Still curious anyway, Harry jumped from his seat, ready to open the door to the living room, but Arthur and Molly beat him to it.

"Grandpa!" Lily exclaimed, running up to wrap her small arms around a bewildered Arthur. She gazed up at him, her emerald-green eyes sparkling with tears, her wavy, Weasley-red hair framing her face perfectly, and her soft, pink lips curving into a picturesque pout. "I swear, I didn't do anything, Grandpa! It was all James's fault. If it wasn't for him, this never would have happened." James scowled, his chocolate-brown eyes narrowing as he ran a hand angrily through his uncontrollable, jet-black hair.

Upon hearing the little girl call her husband "Grandpa," Molly promptly swayed on her feet and fainted. Luckily, Bill promptly caught her and dragged her to the nearest couch.

Arthur was about to respond, to tell this precious little girl that there was no way he could be her grandfather, when Harry finally shoved his way through the doorway with Ron, Hermione, and Ginny right behind him.

"What on earth is going on in here?" Harry asked, focusing on the two small, unfamiliar children.

"Daddy!" Lily exclaimed, quickly releasing Arthur and running over to jump into Harry's arms. Harry just barely caught her in time, but he stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.

"Mummy!" James shouted, running up to Ginny and wrapping his little arms tightly around her waist.

Harry's eyes met Ginny's, and their cheeks both turned bright, tomato-red. This would be interesting.

"Sweethearts, have another biscuit," Molly said maternally, nudging the plate of treats over towards Lily and James. "Now, tell Grandma exactly what happened."

"Well," James said, chewing thoughtfully and obviously enjoying the attention as the whole family listened to him, "it all started when Mummy and Daddy were gonna go out for a date."

"It was their annivers'ry," Lily said, her cheeks stuffed with biscuits and crumbs falling out of her mouth. "An' Mummy and Daddy took me and James to Grandma and Grandpa's house."

"And Auntie Hermione was there to take care of us 'cause Grandma and Grandpa say that they're too old to go running around after a bunch of little miscreants like us." James smiled proudly at his obvious accomplishment, before quickly yanking the last biscuit away from Lily and taking a bite out of it.

"Hey!" she yelled, smacking his arm.

"Trust me, you do _not_ want to give Lily too much sugar," James said, finishing the biscuit off himself. Lily glared at him, but turned to Ginny when she took her hand.

"Lily?" Ginny asked softly and timidly.

Suddenly, Lily burst into tears. "It was my fault!" she wailed, climbing into Ginny's lap. "James didn't do anything; I was the one who wanted to play dress up. But don't get me in trouble, Mommy. Please. I'll never, ever do it again!" Lily buried her face in Ginny's t-shirt, leaving a large, wet mark.

Ginny's eyes widened, but she tried to calm down, for Lily's sake. She pulled the girl into her arms and stroked her long, red hair. "Shhh. It will be alright, sweetheart. You're not in trouble, I just want you and your brother to always be safe."

"Yeah, it'll be okay, Lils," James said, appearing at Ginny's side to pat his sister's shoulder.

As Harry gazed at his future family comforting each other, he couldn't help but feel his eyes water… just a tiny bit. Harry hadn't grown up with a family at all, so knowing that he was going to be a dad to two great kids someday meant the world to him. It also happened to be the very first time that Harry realized what a pretty girl Ginny was turning out to be. She was starting to develop curves, Harry noticed with a blush and, now that she had grown her hair out, it fell in soft waves down past her shoulders. But her eyes were really the prettiest thing about her, Harry finally decided. They seemed to sparkle as she gazed down at James and Lily with adoration, and Harry noticed for the first time that James's eyes were the exact same color. If he hadn't believed James and Lily's story before… well, he did now.

Ginny looked up, past Lily's head. Her warm, chocolate-brown eyes met Harry's affectionate gaze, and then, quite simply, she smiled at him.

Harry was certain that he had just seen an angel.

But, of course, the perfect moment had to be interrupted by Fred and George entering the room as loudly as a herd of elephants.

"All right, you lot! We've flooed Dumbledore, he should be here any moment now," Fred said.

"And please, for your own sake, do _not_ look at our baby sister that way, Potter," George added.

"Well, even if he doesn't now, he will at some point, Forge"

"Why is that, my dearest Gred?"

"You definitely know what this means, don't you?" Fred asked, waving wildly in Lily and James's direction.

"I don't catch your drift," said George, looking slightly confused.

Fred sighed, leaning in slightly to whisper something in George's ear, quite oblivious to the blushes that stained Harry and Ginny's faces bright red.

"Oh. Oh!" George exclaimed, backing away from Fred with wide eyes and then whipping around to face Harry. "No! No! Potter, I will not allow _that_. Fine, you're allowed to get married to her. I might even tolerate a tiny bit of kissing, as long as it's not full-frontal snogging, _after _you're married. And fine, I wouldn't mind being an uncle. I bet it'd be fun to corrupt some young minds to our prankster ways, actually. So go ahead. Have children. Have children any other way than by doing _that_!"

"Snogging?" Lily asked innocently. "Like Daddy always tells Uncle Ron and Auntie Hermione not to do in front of him while he's at the dinner table?"

If Harry and Ginny had been blushing before, they had absolutely nothing on Ron and Hermione right now.

Thankfully for Ron and Hermione, the two embarrassed teenagers were interrupted by Albus Dumbledore entering the room, his long, deep purple cloak sweeping majestically behind him.

"Lily, look!" James exclaimed. "It's Dum- Dumbluh- well, you know, the wizard from the portrait in Professor McGonagall's office!"

Lily studied Dumbledore, her eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully. "Dumbledore, James. 'Cept he's a lot bigger. I dunno if it's really him."

James nodded in agreement. "Well tell us how you got out of the portrait then, _Dumbledore_," he mocked, crossing his arms skeptically.

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he looked at James and Lily, and he kneeled down to be at the same level as the children. "I promise to explain everything to you as soon as possible. But, for now, I have a few questions for you and your parents," he said, his eyes flicking towards Harry and Ginny. "Arthur, Molly… would you mind terribly if we borrowed your sitting room for a few minutes?"

"Not at all, Professor," Molly said, with an answering smile.

Harry and Ginny picked Lily and James up, carrying them as Dumbledore led the way to the sitting room.

"Now, Harry, Ginny… I rather think that it is time to explain _exactly_ why you came here," Dumbledore said as he sat down, looking not at Harry and Ginny, but at Lily and James.

Harry and Ginny watched, extremely confused, as the two children pulled wands out of their pockets and cast a few reversal spells on themselves. And suddenly, where Lily and James had been sitting were slightly older versions of Harry and Ginny… maybe around seventeen or eighteen.

"Well, it's nice to know what a couple of years will do to a girl," Ginny muttered quietly, looking her future self up and down admiringly. Harry tried not to follow in her example.

Meanwhile, the future Harry and Ginny moved much closer together on the sofa, until their legs were pressed up against each other. Harry wrapped one of his arms around Ginny, and she cuddled into his chest. The fourteen-year-old Ginny suddenly realized that she wasn't the only one who had filled out considerably in the future.

"This would have looked a little bit odd when you lot thought that we were brother and sister," Ginny said, giggling as Harry kissed the tip of her nose lightly.

"I hate to break this up," Dumbledore interrupted, "but I think that your younger counterparts, as well as myself to an extent, would like an explanation."

"Well…" Harry said, hesitating slightly. "What do you know about Horcruxes?"

"So… Ginny and I decided to come here, using a modified time-turner that Hermione created, and pretending to be our own children from the future," Harry said, starting to finish up his story. "There were four reasons for this, one being to warn you about the Horcruxes a year in advance, one being to try and get little Harry's head out of his arse, one…"

"Being to embarrass Ron and Hermione to no extent and hope that this helps them get together sometime this summer. So Harry and I can win the bet," Ginny said, grinning mischievously.

"Seven Horcruxes…" Dumbledore murmured. "Tom, what have you done?"

"If it's any help, we can stay here as long as you'd like. We know what they are, and we have a pretty good idea of where most of them are hidden," Harry suggested.

"And with your help, Professor, we'll find the rest," Ginny said.

"We do have one more request though, Professor," Harry said nervously, only calming down when Ginny squeezed his hand. "You see, I never really had a father until Sirius came along. And I know that it would be altering the timeline, and we'd have no idea what would happen. But Sirius… something happens to Sirius, towards the end of this year. And the fourth reason, the other reason why we came here, was to save him from… from death."

Dumbledore was quiet for a moment until, at long last, he spoke. "Too much has happened to you in your short life, Harry. I think… well, I _know_ that you deserve any amount of happiness that the world can give to you. So, if it is saving Sirius that you desire, I will do everything in my power to make that a reality."

Harry nodded, trying hard to keep his emotions in check but failing miserably when he saw silent tears flowing down Ginny's cheeks. And then, the world was gone and it was just Harry and Ginny sitting on that couch in the Burrow's sitting room. All Harry could see was Ginny – her little hand gripping onto his securely, little tendrils of flowing hair escaping their ponytail and tickling his face, her soft, pink lips that made him automatically lean in to kiss her, but, most of all, Harry couldn't ignore Ginny's eyes. Her brown, soulful eyes held a certain wisdom behind them that Harry had only ever seen in Ginny. And now, as she gazed steadily up at him, Harry suddenly knew what gave her that wisdom: love.

_The greatest thing you will ever learn, is just to love, and be loved in return,_ Harry remembered hearing somewhere. And, suddenly, he couldn't hold his feelings in anymore. He needed to say the words, the words that he had never before, in his entire life, said to anybody.

"I love you, Ginny Weasley," he whispered to her, gently stroking her cheek with his thumb and drying her tears in the process. "I was a stupid git for leaving you. But, if you'll still have me, I promise you that I will stay right by your side for the rest of my life… however long that may be."

Ginny flung her arms around him then, and Harry found himself on the receiving one of the most fiercely passionate kisses that Ginny had ever given him. "You are a stupid git, but I love you just the same," she panted when they broke apart for air. "And you _will_ survive this war, Harry. We'll get married, and then have lots of little babies… an adorable little boy named James, who will look exactly like you, except he'll have my eyes. And a beautiful little girl – Lily – with Weasley-red hair… but she'll have your eyes, Harry. Your mum's eyes. And you'll live, Harry. You'll live until you're old and gray and, when you die, you'll be warm in bed, cuddled up in my arms, and _not_ fighting Voldemort."

As Harry leaned in to kiss Ginny again, he thought he saw a familiar twinkle in Dumbledore's bright blue eyes, from his peripheral vision. Even more surprising was seeing his younger self holding Ginny's hand. And, even though Hermione had warned them that they would need to erase everybody's memories, it still gave Harry a strange sense of satisfaction to see that he wasn't always thoroughly a pompous git. Not really.

Exactly two years later, Harry and Ginny tiptoed quietly through the Burrow, hiding under an invisibility cloak. When they reached Ginny's room on the first floor, they heard voices inside.

"Alright, so just twist this dials to this rune… it means 'future' in ancient Egyptian, you know… and then spin these three hourglasses to the year, month, and day you're looking for," they heard Hermione say. "Yes, that's it. Well… be careful you two. I'm confident in the time-turner's ability to take you to the past, but I'm afraid about the reverse. I suppose… there's the possibility of waiting out the two years, if it's faulty. Besides, that will give you plenty of time, right? To search out the Horcruxes. Just… oh, be careful, you two!" There were unmistakable sounds of Ginny, Hermione, and even Harry and Ron sobbing out their goodbyes, and then a loud pop.

Harry signaled to Ginny that the coast was clear, and they quickly entered the room, whipped the invisibility cloak off, and ran up to embrace Hermione and Ron.

"Harry! Ginny!" Hermione cried, tears still lingering in her eyes from saying goodbye. "You're alright!"

"Well that was a bit… anticlimactic," Ron said, grinning. "You were here, you left, and now you're here again five seconds later. Was I supposed to miss you?"

"Well, it was much longer for us, you git," Harry said, slapping Ron's back playfully.

"You see, we had to wait out the two years," Ginny said, shrugging. "But it wasn't bad. Far from bad, actually."

Harry smiled satisfactorily. "First Dumbledore erased everybody's memories but ours… we realized that Hermione was right: it would just be too complicated otherwise. It took us about a year to hunt down all of the Horcruxes except Nagini, and work on strategy for fighting Voldemort with Dumbledore. We also… we also tried to save Sirius. But, I guess… I guess fate will always get its way no matter what, in the end. Anyway, then we had another year to… to..." Harry blushed, looking to Ginny for help. She just grinned, holding her hand out to Hermione so her best friend could see the ring: a beautifully cut emerald surrounded by tiny diamonds that sparkled in the light.

Harry opened his mouth, ready to explain to Ron how it was perfectly normal to get engaged after spending all their time together for two whole years, but Ron beat him to the punch.

"This is… this is… great!" Ron exclaimed, ruffling Harry's hair. "You get to officially be my brother now!"

Harry grinned at Ron's happiness. "You will be my best man, right?" he asked.

"Will I?" Ron rolled his eyes. "I would have punched you if you hadn't asked me, mate."

"Fabulous," Harry said dryly, but still smiling.

"And Hermione's being my maid of honor!" Ginny exclaimed happily, running to Harry and kissing him soundly on the lips. "And you know what they say about the best man and the maid of honor…"

Ginny didn't realize until too late that there were two pillows heading right towards her face. This escalated into a full-blown pillow fight between the four teenagers, until Molly called them down for lunch.

"Guess who came for lunch?" Molly gushed, ushering the four to the outside picnic table. "Look, there's Dad, Bill, Fleur, Charlie, Fred, Angelina, George, and Katie! Isn't it wonderful to get the family together? Wait… Ginny dear, what's that on your hand?"

Molly's eyes widened, and then she swayed on her feet and fainted. Harry quickly caught her before she hit her head and laid her down gently in the grass. Then, of course, it was time for Ginny's brothers to berate Harry.

Fred stepped forward. "No! No, Potter, you are _not _allowed to touch my baby sister. Okay, fine! Get married. I don't mind, I'd love to have you for a brother-in-law. But all you're consummating your marriage with is a kiss. Do I make myself clear?"

Some things would never change.


End file.
